Mexico weekly ledger., 1887-05-05
sOClETY-PAsT, PRESENT AND FU-
TURE.
Mrs. A. r.. Ringo. formerly of Mexico.

! Fur back IN the morning OF time
when the lips of God uttered th'
mighty fiat that brought into exis
tence this earth of ours, and will
His plastic hand formed out first par
ems and placed them in the vine clat
bowers Of Eden. He gave them Law
for their guidance in their intercours,
with each other. with posterity anC
toward the great author of their be
ing. But whether He gave them 1
code OF social ethics or not, we are
lest TO conjecture. Twas here ht
Instituted the sacred ordinance Of
marriage, and threw around our firsi
parents the sacred mantle of purity
innocence, truth aud love. But ere
long this mystic vail was torn asid,
and falsehood, deceit and trcacher1
in the person of Satan entered thos,
consecrated grounds, and for nearl,
six thousand years the world ha
been contend,ng with these grea
enemies of humanity.
For about two thousand years from
creation people lived, died, and wer'
given back to mother earth, Will,
each generation grew more and NOR,
enveloped in the dark mantle o
wickedness and corruption, until Goo
almost regretted He had made man
and sent mighty deluge and swept
from this domain every living being
except Noah and his family. Aftel
the "waters were abated." and the
earth became once more habitable
we see them slowly come forth from
the ark that had borne them in safety
above the billows of Divine Judgment
and can imagine this old patriarch
saying, like Alexander Selkirk:
Il am monarch Of all survey,
my riRHb there is none TO u1S pute.
Without much stretch of the i'm.
agination We can see that family OF
eight sitting down to devise some
means by which to improve on an.
tedeluvian history socially, morally,
politically and religiously.
The worlds history had to begin
anew, and as the ages go by, while
we hsve no account Of the social life
of man, we find him seeking for
something to satisfy that inherent
longing for social intercourse which
has ever been the heritage of man.
kind. To crafty this desire, we
find them engaging in field sports,
many of them such as are practiced
IN the present era. Nimrod was
the knight of the bow and arrow;
Benjamin was the hero of fstic hon
ors. Thea came the Olympic games,
which formed the era from which all
events were dated, and which were
tb. chief .rnusements of the Greeks.
The origin of these noted games is
concealed amid the obscurity of the
mystic period of Greecian history.
The Olympic festivals consisted, to
some extent, of such exercises as are
practIced at our modern gymnasiums
and athletic contests; and in addi-
ton to these, religious ceremonies
were frequently introduced as part
of the entertainment.
As time goes on, we learn of the
gladiatorial contests, which were
first introduced at funerals to give
interest and excitement to those oc-
casions. But they soon became the
chief entertainment of the Romans,
where patrician and plebeian alike
congregated to view the horrible
spectacle where thousands of human
beings were slain for the amusement
of those whose tastes were so morbid
and depraved as to enjoy such
scenes. 1t was the custom of the
Romans as early as the year A. w.
c., 400, to solemnize funerals by hu-
man sacrifice. In that year the first
gladiatorial exhibition was given by
Marcus and Decius Brutus, on the
death of their father, where they
empIo yed only three pairs of glad
iators Tor slaves) trained for that
purpose. These contests continued
for about six hundred years, when
they were abolished by Constantine
the Great. They were, however,
revised fer few years by Constan-
thus (not Constantine) and his two
successors, but Honsrius forever put
an end to these barbaric cruelties.
But let Us leave these revolving and
barbaric scenes, and turn to some
thing more in accordance with the
refinement and culture of the nine.
teenth century.
About the year 1880, Lord Ches-
terfield, in his letters to his son, gave
the world II code of social ethics,
well calculated to refine as well as
please. These letters were largely
circulated aud extensively read. He
was g man rich in ancient and modern
love-scholarly aud refined-and
from such q man the world was will.
ing to take those lessons in mora
and social culture is so much needed
His teachings seemed to supply 6
I long felt want, and when they were
assimiIated and digested, CouuI
D'Oesay came to the front-abou
the year ls4a-aud gave the wor'e
a new and revised edition of thes,
teachings, with rules to govern SO
ciety, which were more in accordance
with the advanced ideas of the ar,